ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Eastern University Men's Basketball ground out a 60-55 win over the visiting Messiah University Falcons to earn a fifth-consecutive win. Despite struggling from the foul line, the made big shots late to start their MAC Commonwealth slate with a win. Kaeshawn Ward scored a game-high 19 to lead the Eagles.

Eastern (6-2, 1-0) forced 16 first-half turnovers but still clung to a 27-24 halftime lead as both teams made 10 field goals and three free throws. Terron Bacon made a pair of 3-pointers and Ward and Jairus Carroll also connected from deep as the Eagles made four long-range efforts. Messiah was 1-for-7 from behind the arc.

Messiah (3-5, 1-1) built a 22-18 lead after Bryce Coletti made three free throws and Will Young IV young scored inside, but William Blet converted a good pass from Ward and Draig Cooley put back to tie the game with four minutes left. Blet put the Eagles up for good on a pass from Bacon before Carroll capped the 9-0 run with a long-range effort. Messiah scored the only basket in the last two and a half minutes. 

The Eagles stormed out of the gates with the first seven points of the second half, but Messiah again slowed the game down and momentarily cut the Eastern lead down to five. The Eastern lead stood at 46-36 with ten minutes to play when the Falcons began to scramble and put the home side on the line. Eastern missed nine free throws in the final eight minutes and the Messiah closed the gap. The visitors grabbed a 51-50 lead on a pair of free throws with three minutes left, but Ward answered with a spinning drive to put the Eagles up.

As they have all year, the Eagles turned up the defensive pressure and forced a contested 3-pointer late in the shot clock and Cooley secured the rebound. At the other end, Cooley caught a pass in the paint and earned a trip to the line. He converted a pair for a three-point edge. The Falcons missed another tough shot and Jaron Fairweather split a pair for for a 55-51 lead. Fairweather finished the game with a program-record tying nine steals. He added seven rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and six points. Marcus Sanders had nine steals in a game against Marywood in 1994. 

The four-point edge did not last long as Messiah broke the Eastern pressure and scored in seconds to close the gap. Blet, who finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds for his second double-double in a row, hit nothing-but-net on a 17-footer late in the shot clock to restore the lead. Ward made three more free throws for the final margin.

"We executed in some key moments down the stretch," Head Coach Dan Pruessner said after the game. "We were able to turn-up the defensive intensity without fouling and get stops. The free throw thing kind of got into the guys' heads, but I thought we showed good composure even with that. William turned away a bunch of those long jumpers early when we did not need them, but he had the confidence to hit that big shot late. Boog [Fairweather] did a great job on their big guy and seemed to be everywhere on defense. We expect a challenge every time out in the conference and have to get ready for Widener."

On Wednesday, the Eagles will travel down the Blue Route to take on the Pride for the first time since January of 2007. The men's will be the second game of the doubleheader and will follow after the women's contest.